Medical school looks at Joplin for expansion

Saturday

Jan 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMJan 26, 2013 at 1:00 AM

JOPLIN (AP) — The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences is taking a second look at a possible satellite campus in Joplin, although no final decision is expected until April, city and school officials said.

Two representatives of the private osteopathic medical school's Strategic Expansion Task Force were in Joplin last week to visit potential sites and discuss the project with city and business leaders, said Lisa Cambridge, spokeswoman for the school.

Cambridge told The Joplin Globe that representatives visited Missouri Southern State University and heard a presentation from the city's master developer, David Wallace.

The task force toured the university's Health Sciences Building and discussed student amenities and what type of research the faculty was conducting, said Pat Lipira, vice president of academic affairs at the university.

"For us, we'd just love to see a medical school, regardless of where it is located," Lipira said. "We know many of our students would be interested in that. We have a good rate of acceptance into medical schools."

Wallace told the Joplin City Council on Jan. 14 he would make a presentation on a proposal to build a $79 million campus in downtown Joplin, but other locations could be involved because the university had suggested it might want to house students housed elsewhere in the city.

Wallace told the city council a medical school could add $50 million a year to Joplin's economy.

"We are all for a medical education facility coming here, whether it be on the Missouri Southern campus or the downtown area," Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean said.